Red Rioja Wine

Spain’s most famous wine region, set in the country’s north-east, has traditionally been home to smooth, oak-aged, vanilla-laden wines made largely from Tempranillo. The hierarchy of such wines has long been categorised according to time spent in the cellar (in both barrel and bottle) with Gran Reserva wines, which spend a total of five years ageing before release, at the top of the tree. It is this ageing, often in American oak, that gives red Rioja its signature rich, harmonious, vanilla tones, though recent times have seen more nuanced approaches to ageing, and a focus on individual sites and the complexity offered by other grape varieties, notably Garnacha, a variety that adds vibrancy and bite to Tempranillo’s rounded charms.